Australian cutbacks for Carter Holt

Carter Holt Harvey is laying off workers at one of its Australian sawmills, as the market for new homes across the Tasman appears likely to fall from record highs.

Thirty-six jobs are to go at the Myrtleford mill in northeast Victoria, which makes structural timber for the building industry.

Carter Holt spokesman Nigel Glennie said building in Australia was "at the top of the cycle".

Carter Holt owns or part-owns one sawmill in New South Wales, one in South Australia and two, including Myrtleford, in Victoria.

Glennie said Myrtleford was the company's highest-cost sawmill in Australia, mainly because of its high wage rates.

A collective employment agreement had expired last March and industrial action had occurred since then. While the redundancies were not directly related to this, Myrtleford's status as the highest-cost mill had meant it was the first to have production cut.

All but two of the 36 redundancies at Myrtleford were voluntary. Three more workers will be transferred within the company. This comes from a total workforce at the mill of 340.

Carter Holt had wanted to lay off at least 50 staff, but settled for the 39 positions being cut.

Australian housing starts are running at between 150,000 and 160,000 a year - more than 30,000 a year higher than they were five years ago.